By Ching Lee / Paul Bojen
Your Holiday Planner was delighted to help Paul Bojen’s family of five to plan a special trip to South East Asia and Australia for Christmas and New Year. Part of the brief was to enjoy a week in South East Asia, with friends from Brisbane, before heading to Australia with them.
The Bojens wanted a family friendly, luxury villa with private pool, that could comfortably accommodate both families and Your Holiday Planner found the wonderful Cliffside Lagoon Villa. Paul Bojen shares this review.
Cliffside Lagoon Villa; photo by Paul Bojen
Location
Situated along the coast of the Andaman sea in Southern Thailand, Krabi’s natural attractions abound. White sandy beaches, crystal clear water, coral reefs, caves, waterfalls and limestone outcrops and national parks that include the island paradises of Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta, make Krabi province an idyllic beach destination.
Krabi worked well with our flights and was an ideal meeting point for both families, with one coming from the UK and the other from Australia.
Cliffside Lagoon Villa is situated between Ao Nang Beach, a tourist hotspot, and the quiet and idyllic Klong Muang Beach, both offering fantastic views of Phi Phi Island.
Accommodation
The pictures we’d seen beforehand looked great but they didn’t do the villa justice. We were thrilled to see how fantastic the accommodation was in real life!
The Villa has over an acre of private land, with lovely tropical gardens, a private swimming pool, a fishing pond and even a zipline! Each family had its own accommodation for sleeping, one in the Main House and one in the Loft Apartment. There are a total for 4 bedrooms, sleeping 8/9. There’s air-conditioning in the bedrooms, as well as fans, and insect screens on all the windows.
We spent of most of our time in the Sala terrace – an open floor, communal area with an outdoor kitchen and dining area. The Villa is equipped with a wide screen TV, DVD and Wifi.
Cliffside Lagoon Villa Zipine; photo by Paul Bojen
Service / Food
We can’t thank Tom and Som enough for their service and hospitality. Nothing was too much trouble. Your Holiday Planner had arranged the airport transfers with Tom beforehand, and Tom and Som helped us to book excursions, recommending things to do and places to eat, while we were there. We even had use of a mobile phone to make local calls, which had their numbers as well as the tuk tuk’s number!
Tom loaned us fishing rods so that we could fish in the pond and supervised us on the zipline, with proper harnesses and safety clips.
As well as recommending places to eat for us, the Villa can also provide dinner to eat in-house, with advance notice. Sampling Som’s cooking was a real highlight – delicious, good quality, local food and very good value.
Things to Do
During our week, we went on an elephant trek, which was about 30 mins away by tuk tuk. Tom & Som also helped us to arrange boat trips to nearby beaches around Ao Nang. Ao Nang beach is OK, but it’s mainly silt and mud when the tide is out, but the boat trips take you to wonderful beaches that are only accessible by boat.
Weather in Krabi in late December
The temperature when we were there was about 30°C, with low humidity. Sometimes it rained at night, so it was nice and fresh in the morning. There were a few mosquitoes, especially around the lily lagoon and at dusk, but repellent was provided by the Villa.
Overall Verdict
We had a wonderful time at Cliffside Lagoon Villa and can thoroughly recommend it. We wanted a luxury villa with private pool, that could accommodate two families, and it was absolutely perfect. Thank you, Your Holiday Planner, and of course, Tom and Som!
